Ambrose of Milan

In his own words on Deuteronomy

• Deuteronomy 4:24

  So the prophets called him a burning fire, because in those three points we see more intensely the majesty of the Godhead. Since to sanctify is of the Godhead, to illuminate is the property of fire and light, and the Godhead is frequently pointed out or seen in the appearance of fire: "For our God is a consuming fire," as Moses said.

  On the Holy Spirit 1.14.140

• Deuteronomy 5:31

  Blessed is that mind which, surpassing the nature and essence itself, deserves to hear what was said to Moses when he was separated from the people: 'But you stand with me' (Deut. V, 31)!

  On Cain and Abel, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 7

• Deuteronomy 6:4

  Such too was the teaching of the law: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord," that is, unchangeable, always abiding in unity of power, always the same and not altered by any accession or diminution. Therefore Moses called him one.

  On the Holy Spirit 3.14.105

• Deuteronomy 6:4

  The law says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God." It did not say "speak" but "hear." Eve fell because she said to the man what she had not heard from the Lord her God. The first word from God says to you, "hear."

  On the Duties of the Clergy 1.2.7

• Deuteronomy 6:5

  He says, 'Let the earth bring forth green herb,' and immediately the whole earth, at the rising of the germ, is filled with all kinds of plants. And to man it is said: 'Love the Lord your God' (Deut., VI, 5), and the love of God is not infused into the hearts of all. The hearts of men are more deaf than the hardest rocks. The earth produces fruits for us undeservedly, while obeying its creator; we deny the debt of gratitude, while not honoring the creator.

  The Six Days of Creation, Book 3, Chapter 17, Section 70

• Deuteronomy 6:5

  And the law says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, thou shalt love thy neighbour." It is a noble thing to do one's kindnesses and duties towards the whole of the human race. But it is ever most seemly that thou shouldst give to God the most precious thing thou hast, that is, thy mind, for thou hast nothing better than that. When thou hast paid thy debt to thy Creator, then thou mayest labour for men, to show them kindness, and to give help; then thou mayest assist the needy with money, or by some duty, or some service that lies in the way of thy ministry; by money to support him; by paying a debt, so as to free him that is bound; by undertaking a duty, so as to take charge of a trust, which he fears to lose, who has put it by in trust.

  On the Duties of the Clergy, Book 1, Section 262

• Deuteronomy 6:5

  And therefore it is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Now he who loves also believes, and in believing each man begins to love. Abraham believed, and so began to love, and he believed not in part, but entirely. For otherwise he would not have perfect charity, for it is written, Charity believeth all things. If it believe not all things, charity does not seem to be perfect. Perfect charity then has all faith.

  Letter 76, Section 5

• Deuteronomy 8:4

  Is he not good, who in the wilderness fed with bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest any famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment of rest? For the space of twenty years, their raiment grew not old, nor were their shoes worn, a figure, which, to the faithful, points to the resurrection that is to come. This shows that the glory of great deeds and the beauty of the power by which he has clothed us and the stream of human life is not absurd, not for nothing.

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 2.2.23

• Deuteronomy 8:17

  Therefore, take heed, oh wealthy person; for you also carry flesh like the poor. ... For it is written: When you have driven out the nations and have taken possession of their land, do not say: My own power and the strength of my own hand have won this possession for me (Deut. VIII, 17). Thus is the one who ascribes his wealth to himself deemed deserving. And in this manner, he does not recognize his own error, but instead drags sin along with a long rope. For if one believes that the acquisition of money is either due to chance events or dishonest cunning, then there is no place for arrogance in those who have either no praise and empty labor, or for immodest desire ignorant of setting a limit to pleasure.

  The Six Days of Creation, Book 6, Chapter 8, Section 53

• Deuteronomy 14:4

  And therefore, according to the Law, clean animals have horns: for the Law is spiritual. For those who are able to repel the allurements of this world with the word of God and the observance of virtue, they seem to be fortified with horns like the helmets of their own heads. And rightly, the power of an astonishing speech is said to be like a horn, which ignites the good soldiers of Christ to battle so that we may snatch the spoils from the enemy, the devil. Therefore, we are on the battlefield, and we see many of us held captive in the enemy's camp: they must be freed from the heavy yoke of slavery.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs

• Deuteronomy 15:6

  The Hebrew lent to the nations at interest. He did not himself receive doctrine from the people but handed it down. To him the Lord opened his treasury so that the rain of his word might make the nations to grow wet and so that he might become the prince among the nations, but he himself would have no prince over himself.

  Letters 1-10

• Deuteronomy 19:14

  But on the contrary, if your eye has looked upon a woman to covet her, you have opened a wound, you have driven a weapon into your body. Your very members become tools of sin. If you look upon the property of orphans and drive them from the dwellings of their fathers, you are changing the landmarks that your forefathers set. Your members are tools of iniquity. And so the passions are the author of guilt and not the flesh, for the flesh is the servant of the will.

  On Jacob and the Blessed Life

• Deuteronomy 19:14

  Enjoin them too (as I have borrowed a figure from agriculture) to preserve inviolate the laws of common boundary, and to guard those paternal landmarks which the law protects. The affection of a neighbour often exceeds the love of a brother, for the one is often afar off, the other nigh at hand; the witness of your whole life, and judge of your conduct.

  Letters 1-10

• Deuteronomy 21:15

  And inasmuch as my discourse took as a proof of its assertion that passage in the Book of Deuteronomy which speaks of the man who had two wives, one beloved and the other hated, you seem to have felt much concern lest any one should suppose this man had taken to himself two souls, which is impossible. But you yourself know that sometimes, when Scripture uses allegory, it refers some things to the figure of the Synagogue, some to that of the Church; some things to the soul, others to the mystery of the Word, others to souls of different kinds and qualities, which he who has spiritual discernment can distinguish. And so I conceive that it is not two souls, but different qualities of the same soul, which are treated of in the following chapter of the Law. For there is an amiable kind of soul, which desires pleasure, which shuns labour, shrinks from compunction, slights the judgments of God. It is amiable because it seems gentle and sweet for the time, and one that soothes rather than distresses the mind. But there is another severer kind, which is consumed with zeal for God, which, like a strict wife, will not permit or suffer her consort to commit whoredoms, allows no indulgence to the body, gives no licence to delight or pleasure, renounces the hidden deeds of shame, devotes herself to arduous labours and to severe perils.

  Letters 31-40

• Deuteronomy 21:17

  This digression then of ours from one part of the Law to the other, for the purpose of shewing that the firstborn is not the son of the beloved, that is of the more remiss and voluptuous wife, has not been needless, although the words of the chapter before us express the same truth: He may not make the son of the beloved first-born before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born. He is indeed the first-born who is the holy son of a holy mother; true sons do not wander from their true mother, though sinners do wander; the true first-born therefore is he who is the son of the true mother: and he who is not truly the first-born, is strengthened by riches as if he were the first-born, and is honoured that he may not be in want: but he who is truly the first-born receives a double portion of all that he hath, that he may be rich.

  Letters 31-40

• Deuteronomy 22:5

  Now, if you will consider it well, that which nature herself abhors must be incongruous. For why do you not wish to be thought a man, seeing that you are born such? why do you assume an appearance which is foreign to you? why do you play the woman, or you, O woman, the man? Nature clothes each sex in their proper raiment. Moreover in men and women, habits, complexion, gestures, gait, strength and voice are all different.

  Letters 61-70

• Deuteronomy 23:19

  [Scripture] orders money to be returned without usury. It is a mark of kindly feeling to help one who has nothing. It is a sign of a hard nature to extort more than one has given. If one has need of your assistance because he has not enough of his own wherewith to repay a debt, is it not a wicked thing to demand under the guise of kindly feeling a larger sum from him who has not the means to pay off a lesser amount?

  On the Duties of the Clergy 3.3.20

• Deuteronomy 23:21

  A wish is a request for blessings from God with a promise to fulfill a duty. And so, when you obtain what you have asked for, it is ungrateful to delay the promise.

  On Cain and Abel

• Deuteronomy 28:12

  The knowledge hereof the good God opens to His saints, and grants it out of His good treasury, even as the sacred Law testifies, saying, The Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee and open unto thee His good treasure. From this heavenly treasure He gives rain to His lands, to bless all the works of thy hands. By this rain is signified the utterance of the Law, which moistens the soul fruitful and fertile in good works, that it may receive the dew of Grace.

  Letters 21-30

• Deuteronomy 28:23

  By the heaven then being brass is signified its being shut up, and refusing its use to the earth. The earth also is iron, for it witholds its produce, and with hostile rigour excludes from its fructifying soil the seeds thrown upon it, which its wont is to cherish as in the bosom of a tender mother. For when does iron bring forth fruit, when does brass melt into showers?

  Letters 61-70

• Deuteronomy 30:15

  Let us ponder the nature of life and of death. Life is the enjoyment of the gift of breath, death the deprivation of it. Further, this gift of breath is considered by most people as a good. And so life is this, the enjoyment of goods, but death is the divestiture of them. And Scripture says, "Behold, I have set before your face life and death, good and evil," for it calls life good and death evil and attributes to each its proper deserts.

  DEATH AS A GOOD 1.2

• Deuteronomy 32:11

  Finally, listen to Moses saying: He spread his wings and took them, and carried them on his shoulders (Deuteronomy 32:11): just as an eagle carries its offspring, which it is accustomed to examine; in order to hold and nurture those who have the true nature of birth, and to observe the grace of incorruptible nature; or to reject those in whom it has detected the weakness of a degenerate origin at a tender age.

  Interrogation of Job and David, Chapter V

• Deuteronomy 32:35

  But what better pattern can there be than that of Divine justice? For the Son of God says: "Love your enemies;" and again: "Pray for those that persecute you and speak against you." So far does He remove the desire of vengeance from the perfect that He commands charity towards those who injure them. And since He had said in the Old Testament: "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." He says in the Gospel, that we are to pray for those who have injured us, that He Who has said that He will avenge, may not do so; for it is His will to pardon at your desire with which according to His promise He agrees. But if you seek for you know that the unjust is more severely punished by his own convictions than by judicial severity.

  Epistle 63, Section 84

• Deuteronomy 33:17

  Ten thousand, he said, Ephraim, and thousands of Manasseh (Deut. XXXIII, 17), that is, he should rule over both the Jews and the Gentiles, and acquire for himself the fullness of the Church from both peoples.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, Chapter XI

• Deuteronomy 33:22

  Moses blessed this tribe, saying: Dan is a lion's cub that shall leap forth from Bashan (Deut. XXXII, 22), that is, from confusion. Hence, according to the Greek translation, we should understand that Dan himself became a serpent sitting on the way. Dan means judgement. And therefore, this tribe underwent a grave risk of judgement, as the serpent, Antichrist, slipped in and wounded it with his venoms.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, Chapter VII

• Deuteronomy 33:24

  But the Church has oil wherewith she dresses the wounds of her children, lest the hardness of the wound spread deeply; she has oil which she has received secretly. With this oil Asher washed his feet as it is written: "A blessed son is Asher, and he shall be acceptable to his brothers, and shall dip his feet in oil." With this oil, then, the Church anoints the necks of her children, that they may take up the yoke of Christ; with this oil she anointed the Martyrs, that she might cleanse them from the dust of this world; with this oil she anointed the Confessors, that they might not yield to their labours, nor sink down through weariness; that they might not be overcome by the heat of this world; and she anointed them in order to refresh them with the spiritual oil.

  Letter 41, Section 20

• Deuteronomy 34:5

  And therefore, we do not read about him as we do about others, because he died in a state of deficiency: but he died through the word of God (Deuteronomy 34:5). For God neither experiences defection or diminution, nor does he undergo addition. Hence, the Scripture also adds: 'For no one knows his burial place until this day' (ibid. 6), so that you understand it as a translation rather than his demise. For death is a certain separation of the soul and body. Therefore, he was dead through the word of God, as Scripture says, not according to the flesh; so that you may observe not the message of death, but the gift of grace expressed, who was transferred rather than abandoned, of whom no one knows the burial.

  On Cain and Abel, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 8